‘I never Knew the Man’

The Coptic Act of Peter (Papyrus Berolinensis 8502.4), Its Independence from the Apocryphal Acts of Peter, Genre and Legendary Origins

By (author) A.L. Molinari

Book cover: ‘I never Knew the Man’

Extent: 214 pages

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Subjects: Classical Studies, Language & Linguistics

Series: Bibliothèque Copte de Nag Hammadi Section «Études»

Series volume number: 5

Language: English

Paperback (Out of print)

(December 2000)

ISBN: 9789042909724

Price: $75.00

In stock

The Act of Peter, Papyrus Berolinensis 8502.4 was discovered in Egypt some years before the end of the 19th century and subsequently published in 1903 by Carl Schmidt. Since Schmidt’s study, much of the overall debate has centered on this text’s relationship with the apocryphal Acts of Peter (preserved in the Latin manuscript, Actus Vercellenses). Schmidt viewed the Act of Peter as part of the long-lost first third of the Acts of Peter, a position which has since attained general acceptance. Molinari contends that scholars have been hasty in their acceptance of Schmidt’s position, which under scrutiny reveals itself to be built on assumptions that are tenuous at best. Molinari makes his argument in two parts. The first part refutes Schmidt’s theory that the Act of Peter was originally part of the Acts of Peter. The second part discusses the issue of genre and origins.

  • By (author) A.L. Molinari